Russian President Vladimir Putin has nominated Chechnya’s controversial leader Ramzan Kadyrov for a new term in office, the Guardian reports.

Kadyrov, whose term as leader runs out next month, was appointed acting leader by Putin and is expected to stand in elections in September. He had previously said he planned to step down, but most analysts saw this as a ploy to force the Kremlin to back him publicly, after a year in which he has faced criticism from many quarters, the Guardian says.

Kadyrov is a former rebel fighter whose father, Akhmad-Khadzhi Kadyrov, switched sides and ran the republic with Moscow’s blessing until his death in a 2004 bomb attack. Since then, Ramzan has been in charge, turning Grozny into a modern city of skyscrapers and new-build apartment blocks, all with the Kremlin’s money.

The Russian president said on Friday he had reappointed Kadyrov because of “everything that has been done in the past years for the Chechen people first and foremost, and by extension for the whole of Russia.”